7 Quick Takes Friday

I decided I'd join in on the "7 Quick Takes" this week.  Easy way to share our week without too much brain energy...

1. Anni is POTTY-TRAINED!  I'm not saying she'll never have another accident, because, well, I just can't promise that.  But we're on our fourth day (and soon to be night!) in panties only.  Thank goodness we ran out of diapers and just decided to grin and bear it.  That being said, I'm really glad we took the slow train and let her do things her way... we definitely don't need one more reason for tantrums and tears (from any of us) around here.

2. Colette sleeps sometimes... this is a big, happy deal.  That's all.
 

Oh, and then she wakes up like this:

 So, pretty much, life is good.

3. It's still snowy... stillllll.  I'm really grateful for the precipitation (for our state, not really for me, I have no yard, therefore no garden that notices that we're in a drought), but I'd love it if we could transition into a nice spring rain now.  Maybe? 

Maybe I should drop the dreams of Anni's 3 year pictures having any sort of green in them... cuz it doesn't look like that's happening quite yet.  At least I've been trying to get creative with snow-y crafts so we aren't so bored being trapped inside (well, Anni, I'm an introverted introvert of the homebody type and it takes some serious prying to get me to leave my cozy little home... disaster that it is).  Anyway, Anni got her first go at scissors annnnd we brought some snow inside. 

4. Oh, yeah, Anni is turning THREE in less than 3 weeks.  eek!  When did this itty bitty baby

grow up and become, not a baby, not a toddler, but a little girl?!  I'm not sure what our birthday plans are for our sweet gal as we're leaving for Kansas the next day.  Thoughts welcome.

5. Daniel and I celebrated 5 years since we started dating this week... and by celebrating I mean that he completely surprised me flowers by sneaking them up from the car after I'd gone to bed and then we skipped going out because I'd already been out in the freezing snow/rain with girls the entire afternoon and while we had a babysitter for Anni, Lettie is still definitely in the "mommy is not letting you out of my sight" phase.  Soooo... we ordered pizza and didn't go straight to bed the instant Lettie was down for her longer stretch... nope, we watched Dr. Who... romance at its finest :).

Us... just a couple of weeks after we started dating... it's a good story, someday I'll tell you all about it.

6. I love my sister's homesteading life. It just makes me smile every time she tells me about their new adventure (and... I love mooching off of her delicious produce!)

7. We're still house hunting!  I'm accepting the fact that I may need to keep practicing patience for several more months... things are just not easy for buyers in our area!  Here's hopin'!

Find more 7 Quick Takes at Camp Patton.

The post in which I whine a little... and include cute pictures

This past week has been rough.  I'm just going to go the ol' bandaid route, and tell you all that all that at once so we can move on quickly to the happy... in fact, this may get a little whiny, so please, feel free to just skip to the happy photos.

The yuck:

The housing market stinks in this area for buyers, the houses are generally gone before we can see them (even when we try to see them the day they go on the market), but we don't want to settle for something that doesn't at least fulfill what we need.

This week we had to figure out why our fire alarm was beeping... turns out it was the carbon monoxide alarm.  We grabbed the babies  and I sat in the snowy car with the heat blasting while Daniel let the firemen in and watched as their CO detectors detected... nothing... for 45 minutes... while I sat in the car and tried to explain to a very confused Anni that we might be going to a friend's apartment ("I want to see Bawissa NOW!") or, well, maybe not, because the firemen may have fixed the apartment, aka, nothing was ever wrong.  It started going off again a couple days later (luckily, we had bought a backup, so I knew I didn't need to leave).  It took a little husband complaining to get them to come replace it right away (it's a little tough trying to turn it off every three minutes while nursing a little one), but they did... so problem solved.


I'm in that phase where nothing fits.  This wouldn't bother me so much, except... I have no nursing clothes (which makes getting the hang of nursing in public a little more awkward than necessary) annnnd I keep going through clothes to look presentable... and keep ending up with a pile that have holes/stains/something ridiculous wrong with them.  I'm unfortunately not all that good at picking out clothes that are good for my body as it is, so I'm feeling pretty darn lost right now.  The plan is to grab at least some nursing shirts to get me by... but that requires having someone to help with the littles, and there's precious little time with that.  Silly, I know, but it would be really nice not to feel like a frump when I do make it out of the house.  So, really, I just need someone with some fashion sense to give me a little makeover.  Position open, friends.

This one's just funny (because it will get done)... for the first time ever (not that I've had to do them for that long), I'm submitting my taxes at the last minute.  We try to head to bed the instant Lettie falls asleep for her longer stretch at night, and since I'm generally nursing her most of the time leading up to that, there hasn't been much time to stretch my tired, math-skill-lacking brain to the task.  Thank goodness for my husband's help... we'll squeak by with time to spare tonight.  

To be honest, none of this is a big deal... it will (or already has) all work out.  I think I'm just overwhelmed and tired with life in general... pretty much par for the course when a sweet newborn joins the family. 

But then, we have this:

Where I am today:

I'm guest blogging over at The Catholic Wife today, talking about my journey learning to be present in my own life.  Check it out, as well as her other posts, she's a lovely writer (and person!)

I'm also officially "back at work", so stay tuned on my business blog for more updates :).

The world I live in...

I live in a world of lost socks... but also a world of baby toes: sweet, itty bitty ones that big sisters like to kiss.

I live in a world of toddler tantrums... but also a world where that toddler notices everyone else's tears, too, and tries her best to soothe them with back pats and songs. 

I live in a world of sleepless nights... but I I also live in a world where, for this short time, I am able to provide everything my babies need.

I live in a world of "please be gentle with your baby sister!"... but also a world where these sisters have nothing but love for each other.


I live in a world where there isn't a lot of time or money for date nights out... but also a world where I've never wanted to spend my whole life with someone more than when seeing my husband as a daddy.

I live in a world where things are not all clean at once... but books are read, sleeping babies are snuggled and everyone is told they're loved.

I live in a world of frustration, exhaustion and overwhelming emotion, but I live in a world where love lives also.

Easter

I love that, as parents, we get to create the traditions our kids remember for the rest of their lives (whether or not they choose to carry them on).  Easter is such a time of joy, in our faith (I mean, Christ rose from the dead... pretty spectacular!) and therefore carried over into our own little family.

Growing up, we always dyed Eggs on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday), so... we continued that tradition in our own little family.  While I only got to do a few minutes of dyeing and then sat on the side-lines with a ravenous Miss Lettie (she is a champion marathon nurser if there ever was one), I had an absolute blast watching Anni's fascination with the whole process.

 

 

 

Other than egg-dyeing, much of our triduum (the three days preceding Easter Sunday) was spent cleaning in preparation for the big day (we hosted Daniel's parents for Easter dinner) and enjoying having Daddy home for a three day weekend.

Saturday evening, we got to gather all the goodies we'd acquired for the girls' baskets and put them together.  I really tried to avoid candy this year (though, we still have a good amount as my in-laws were sweet and brought us all kinds of goodies), so I had a lot of fun picking up random things over the last couple of months.  Anni's basket had a video about St. Francis, some sweet little headbands from Target, an apron from zulily (I love that it's a full apron... I'm sure you'll see it in some baking photos eventually!), some sandals from zulily and, for something sweet, we filled a few eggs with Unreal Candy (still not healthy, but without all of the hfcs, artificial colors and other yuckies in most candy... this version tastes a lot like peanut m&ms).  Let's be honest, the morning she peeked in her basket, she went straight for the candy, but, she's loved the other gifts as she noticed them throughout the last day or so.

Colette's basket was very simple.  There really isn't much she needs, so we bought her a basket (Target still had the same general design as Anni's... let's hope they keep that up until all our babies are born, should we have more!)  Inside she has some sweet, simple little headbands and some sheets for the eventual crib (we haven't bought her a crib yet as we're hopefully moving in a month, but they're ready for when it comes). 

Annnnd... my favorite part about Easter morning?  Seeing these sweet faces all dressed and ready to head to Easter Mass.  While Mass was a little chaotic, it was so wonderful to be there with our whole family. 

That afternoon, my in-laws joined us for some more Easter festivities.  We did an Easter egg hunt on the go as we walked to  the park only a block or so away (Daniel would "casually" walk ahead and hide the eggs as we went... probably the last year we could attempt such a thing with Anni, but it worked really well this year).

Miss Colette was there, too, just bundled into the Moby, getting a little rest in-between activities.

Looking back through these photos, my little girl really does look like a little girl instead of a toddler or baby anymore.  I love her excitement over every aspect of the holiday (Daniel and I tried to explain Easter simply, and she spent one afternoon telling us that her baby doll was rising from the dead... one step at a time, I suppose). 

Thank goodness for my little ones, they remind me to take joy in even the simplest things.  I love it!

Happy Easter, my friends!